Viking News May 30, 2019

Far-Left Rally

Leftist groups protest without opposition News Page 3

May 30, 2019 • Volume 92 • Issue 8 • Published since 1927

Miracle on Carson Street

Photo by Abel Reyes

2019 Commencement speaker shares her story before LBCC graduation

News Page 2

NEWS

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May 30, 2019

NEWS BRIEFS

Queer Space has been disbanded Queer Space, the only LGBTQ club at Long Beach City College, has lost its charter due to not having a representative of the club attending three of the club senate meetings.

At LBCC, a club charter defines the roles of the organization’s members and the club functions such as events and fund-raisers.

LBCC club senate rules prohibit clubs from missing more than three club senate meetings or the clubs may lose their charter.

Toward the end of March, Jennifer Musick, club advisor said that Queer Space hasn’t had a meeting all semester and currently has no president.

Mid-April, ASB Senate President Heidi Alsangak said a representative for Queer Space has been attending all the required meetings for club senate this semester until recently.

— Cassandra Reichelt

ASB has a new president ASB president candidates Alyssa Taneza-Jones and Ian Rubinstein competed against each other, with Taneza-Jones winning by 147 votes to Rubinstein’s 50 votes to become the new ASB president.

While the other three candidates went uncontested.

This years election votes were down compared to last years election race.

— Malik Reeves

Oakley gets a vote of no confidence The Faculty Association of California Community Colleges gave a vote of no confidence in Eloy Oakley during his ongoing tenure as chancellor of California Community Colleges which is the governing body of California’s community college system.

It was announced on Tuesday, May 21 that Oakley will get his contract extended for four more years as chancellor of California Community Colleges.

— Steven Matthews

SafeZone panel guests speak out Guest student panelists speak out about how to be an ally to the LGBTQ community.

In order to be an ally, students must be able to acknowledge their privilege and use their voice for those who don’t have one.

The event had 68 people in attendance to hear what the panelists had to say about being an ally to their community in large.

— Marissa Lopez For complete stories go to lbccviking.com

Photo by Abel Reyes Long Beach City College 2019 Commencement Speaker Veronica Miracle, a journalist for KABC7 news is speaking at graduation.

A Miracle for graduation After 13 long years Veronica Miracle finally reunited with her father

Story By Iman Palm and Abel Reyes Viking News KABC7 news reporter Veronica Miracle’s father saw his daughter on TV for the first time in Feb. after spending 13 years in federal prison for wire fraud and tax evasion.

“It was everything you expected to be; emotional, exciting but there’s also feelings of anxiety and watching him re-enter society is really strange. Being able to witness his transition and being there and watching him you know try on like regular clothing for the first time in over a decade, it was healing,” Miracle said.

Even though it was a healing situation, Miracle began to experience the same feelings she felt when her father first left while watching him get accustomed to life outside of prison.

“It also triggered some memories of some feelings that I felt when it first happened like shame and embarrassment and anxiety. It’s a process dealing with all of these varying emotions,” Miracle said.

During his incarceration, Miracle and her father had a difficult relationship and because of that, Miracle only visited him three times.

During the time Miracle was living without her father, she went from being a reporter in a small city in Idaho, to joining

the news team at KABC7.

“I’ve been in this business for seven years now. So to go through all those milestones of being on TV for your first time, moving to your second market, getting to L.A., all of those thing I had to do on my own,” Miracle said.

Miracle kept the story of her father private until earlier this year when she announced his release on her Twitter account.

Soon after the Twitter post she received a phone call from Long Beach City College to be the commencement speaker for the upcoming 2019 graduation.

“We have had a lot of men speak at our ceremony the last couple of years you know. She’s a woman. We haven’t had one in I think in five years. Just to hear from a different perspective of what she has been through would be really cool,” Associate Director of Public Relations and Marketing Stacey Toda said.

With this being her first time speaking at a commencement ceremony, Miracle shared how she felt to be a part of the big day.

“Its really really really humbling … to get the call from LBCC like ‘we want you to talk about that and other things to our students,’ it made me feel better about opening up and being so vulnerable,” Miracle said.

“But I don’t remember my commencement speaker for my bachelors, so hopefully I can be a bit more memorable.”

During her father’s incarceration, she

met professor Marvin Marcelo at WSU who she credits in rebuilding her confidence and inspiring her to pursue her career goals.

“Veronica is a once in a decade student,” Marcelo said. “She has so much determination and so much desire for her career and future.”

For Marcelo, one thing that stood out to him about Miracle was how well she took criticism and how she grew from it.

Miracle’s hard work paid off when she moved to Fresno to work as a general assignment reporter for ABC30.

She reported on a story about Melissa Neylon, a woman who was falsely accused of crimes she did not commit and Miracle reporting helped release Neylon from jail.

Now with KABC7, Miracle has covered a range of topics including the California wildfires and the Thousand Oaks shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill late last year.

Miracle expressed that dealing with mental health should be a bigger topic.

“Journalists see a lot of stuff and I don’t think that we realize how much it affects us cause we are not firefighters or police officers carrying the dead bodies like holding these family members and telling them like your son is dead,” Miracle said.

Miracle envisions herself continuing being a reporter at KABC7 in the near future as she continues to expand on her relationship with her dad.

NEWS

May 30, 2019

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LB local activist rally not disputed Story By Steven Matthews Viking Staff

Photo By Marissa Lopez Long Beach Police wait for information outside of PCC Admissions and Records building, after a call was made for a suspected gunman on the PCC campus. The incident was caused by a film professor carrying a prop gun.

Prop gun causes lockdown

Story By Abel Reyes, Cassandra Reichelt, and Fernando Pacheco Viking Staff Long Beach City College Pacific Coast Campus went on lockdown because a film professor was carrying a prop gun across campus for a film shoot.

Film professor Elias Daughdrill told the Viking News in an interview that he had the prop gun for a film shoot of a scene that included actors as officers.

“I emailed the guys at the theater department, ‘You guys have a prop gun and like a police badge that students can use for the scene’ and they said ‘Sure, see we what we got’ and so I walked over there and stupidly didn’t bring like a bag or something, I wasn’t even thinking that I was going to bring it back because we were not shooting until like three more weeks and they said ‘Here take it now,” Daugh-

drill said.

Daughrill was walking from FF building to EE building with the prop gun.

“Nothing happened for 10 or 15 minutes and got a phone call from Tony Carreiro a theater faculty member and so, I step outside the classroom and I see police officers and I said ‘I know what this is about.’

According to Daughdrill, his class was in session, but after the incident he continued class.

Daughdrill was not arrested because there was no apparent threat on campus.

Superintendent-President Reagan Romali sent out an Emergency Alert Follow up email.

In the email, Romali made a brief letter about the situation that unfolded today, and how the LBPD found a replica firearm that was being used in a class production.

“We are extremely grateful for the in-

credibly quick response from the Long Beach Police Department. Upon investigation they found out it was an instructor and a student who had a prop gun for a film in theater class.” Romali said.

“I have never seen such a show of force to come out for our students, faculty, staff, and administrators.”

Officer Kevin Stenson, who was at PCC during the incident, heard different information about the suspect.

“There was never a shooter or a possible shooter, what we have is a student that was in an acting class and they had some sort of assignment going on and I guess they needed a prop weapon and it was seen by other students,” Stenson said.

Text alerts went out to students, faculty, and staff regarding what was going on at PCC and an all clear was sent out at 11 a.m.

REACTIONS TO LOCKDOWN Students: Once the mass text message was sent, many students were under the impression that they had all received the text at the exact same time, however, the first text was set out at around 10:30 a.m. and some of the last were sent out around 11:15 a.m.

Because of this many students learned about the incident through word-of-mouth and social media.

“When my friend first told me, I was shocked and sad that this kind of stuff is still going on. I am grateful that the school sent out a text, but it bothers me that he got his before mine,” said Sophia Glass, nursing major.

Jose Meza, a chemistry major said, “I got notified because a student called to cancel our morning ASB meeting because he got the alerts. I got mine shortly after. I don’t think I got it too late, especially if it was just hearsay.”

Faculty: The thought of having an active shooter on campus has made many professors begin to reflect.

Accounting professor Maureen Baker has attended LBCC training for faculty members on procedures during emergency situations.

“The training I’ve been to, the focus is don’t just stay, you gotta plan on fighting back. It’s all about what we can do to fight back if we’re stuck,” Baker said.

When dealing with the emotional impacts lingering within students, food and nutrition professor Lilli Wells has taken measures into her own hands.

“A gunman on the campus is going to leave a similar impact for many people. So I try to invite students to stay after class and talk about it,” Wells said.

“Up, up, up with the people, down, down, down with the racists,” is one of many chants that could be heard by residents if they drove passed Bluff or Bixby park during an organized rally put on by an left leaning activist coalition.

The activist rally was organized as a response to a far-right rally that was set to take place the same morning.

The counter rally, which took place at 10 a.m on April 28, was organized by a coalition called the Long Beach United Anti-Racist Neighborhood Front, which was comprised of several groups, most notably the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and the Long Beach chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The coalition organized as soon as they found out that a far-right group, the United Patriot Nationalist Front, had planned a rally for Bluff Park in Long Beach for April 28.

After the counter rally was announced, the UPNF made changes to its social media pages to indicate that they may have cancelled the event, which left many of the anti-racist coalition to wonder if the far-right would even show up.

That proved to be the case, because when Sunday morning rolled around, the only people to show up was the activist coalition.

The activist rally was split up into two parts, with the DSA marching in Bluff Park, and the PSL marching at Bixby Park.

Most people at the rallies expressed jubilance that the far-right rally didn’t show up, including Kevin Joerger, a member of the Long Beach DSA, who took it as a sign that Long Beach was not a favorable place for the far-right to stage a rally.

“It’s great. It’s a good sign and it’s the safest possible outcome, and it shows that there’s power in Long Beach ... ,” Joerger said.

The PSL, which had originally advertised their rally at Bluff Park, held their rally instead in Bixby Park, but that didn’t stop them from making sure that their voices were heard.

Both parts of the rally ended around noon without incident.

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LIFESTYLE

May 30, 2019

Iconic female activist inspires LBCC

Story By Sabriyya Ghanizada Viking Staff

Dorothy Pitman Hughes – activist, co-founder of Ms. Magazine and overall icon – spent a day split into 3 parts discussing social issues with the community of Long Beach City College on May 2 thanks to the help of Trustee Virginia Baxter, counselor Debra Petersen and a few generous donors and event organizers.

Possibly most recognized for her 1971 portrait in Esquire magazine with famed feminist Gloria Steinem, Dorothy Pitman Hughes’ true work was in was in child advocacy and women’s rights which began early on in her life.

“I got in the women’s movement at the age of eight. I found my university sitting under the porch hearing the women of my community talk. That’s how I got to know what was contributing pain to the community. That’s how I became the fighter I am now,” Hughes said.

Born in Lumpkin, a small town in Georgia, Hughes family stayed satiated by planting crops and raising pigs.

She explained to the circle that because Lumpkin was segregated, instead of receiving U.S. currency, the black population were given a currency coined ‘bozine’ to use in the shops in town.

“It was sad, but I grew up listening to the complaints of the women. I just thought it

Photo By Sabriyya Ghanizada Dorothy Pitman Hughes urges the group to raise their fist, signifying power to the people.

was my job to make a change,” Hughes said.

After graduating high school, Hughes got on a bus and moved to New York where she found jobs cleaning homes and singing in jazz clubs, all while simultaneously being an activist.

“I got taught by the process about how to become an advocate for myself,” Hughes said.

Hughes began caring for battered women when she rented a room in an apartment for them to stay when they needed a break from the abuse they were dealing with in

their lives.

After seeing the state of the children who lived in her community, Hughes began a daycare center from one room in her home that eventually led her to owning and operating three daycare centers, along with co-founding New York City’s Agency for Child Development in 1979.

“I just started organizing without people knowing I was organizing. I knew if someone needed me, especially a child, I was going to be there for them,” Hughes said.

my Hijab and how much better I will look without it.”

In a determined search to find companionship, like many other young adults who live an isolated life, Antunec turned to the app Sweet Talk to connect with people from all around the world.

“It was weird when guys would tell me that I am pretty and stuff like that,” Antunec said.

“It was guys telling me this stuff from other countries. I started to laugh because they were telling me that they love me, but they don’t even know me. I met my first boyfriend on the app because he was the only one who took the time to get to know me.”

After simultaneously talking to other penpals on the app, her first relationship fizzled and she started paying closer attention to her current boyfriend of two years, 25-year-old Nabil Elmodeen, who lives in Morocco.

“He made me understand that the other long distance relationship I was in was not going to work out. I like that he found the time to ask how my day was going. I like most that he was very caring of me,” Antunec said.

Antunec took pride in helping her boyfriend in any way she could, like giving

him money for school textbooks and travel but some members of her family could not come around to the idea of them dating.

“My dad is not very supportive of the relationship. He thinks that Nabil is trying to use me for money or a green card,” Antunec said.

This past summer, Antunec decided to put her relationship to the test and fly over 15 hours across the world to see Elmodeen in the flesh.

During her trip to Morocco, Elmodeen showed Antunec the ways of his culture and the principles of his religion.

“It is not important for my girlfriend to be Muslim, Islam faith does not make me marry a Muslim, I took her to the mosque with me and showed her videos and she chose from there,” Elmodeen said.

When Antunec came back to the states, she faced a number of cultural challenges.

“My mom is supportive of me. I invited my dad to the mosque for Ramadan but he never showed up,” Antunec said.

Regardless of what her family thinks about her conversion, Antunec is regularly going to the mosque to pray and has enrolled in Arabic classes so she can better understand the quran.

“Next time she comes to Morocco, I will ask her to be my wife,” Elmodeen said.

During the second community talking circle in the bistro, Hughes turned her attention back to the current state of children in America, including its borders.

“Right now, children are being trained for prison. We need to get involved and quickly. It’s really sad to see young children arrested and put into a situation where they can’t go home. We are responsible for the pain of the children who are being kept out of this country,” Hughes said.

President of the Women’s club and history major Sasha Ramirez spoke to the circle about her community and how her friends were beginning to be displaced.

Hughes personally gave her number to Ramirez and told her, “there is no problem that can’t be solved”.

As women began to raise their voices to the sound of equality, Hughes co-founded Ms. Magazine in 1972 along with Gloria Steinem, which would be just one of their many ventures together.

“There’s enormous power in women.

Women will never fix the patriarchy until they fix the racism between them,” said Hughes when describing her time touring with Steinem throughout the 1970’s and their joint ventures through the decades,.

“I’m still organizing, I’m still getting things done. This phase of my life is trying to save lives, there is no reason for the things going on and I’m not ashamed to ask for help,” Hughes said.

Mexican-American’s life changing online relationship Story By Shani Crooks Viking Staff Tormented by a childhood plagued with bullying, loneliness, and insecurities, 26-year-old Mexican-American Karla Antunec was introduced to a new cultural world after meeting her Moroccan boyfriend on a pen pal app called Sweet Talk and converting to Islam.

“I don’t want to say that I converted to Islam just because of him, because that’s rude, but he showed me the religion and I liked the message of peace,” Antunec said.

“I feel comfortable being Muslim.”

Growing up, Antunec, who has always described herself as timid, had no recollection of a period in her past where she had anyone to call a friend.

“I remember the first semester of my senior year in high school, I ate lunch everyday by myself in a classroom because no one wanted to eat with me. I still never got my high school diploma. I just started to get so tired of school,” Antunec said.

“Kids used to bully me a lot, and because of that it’s hard for me to feel beautiful. Basically what people always used to tell me was that I look like a man because I have a mustache and even now, I have neighbors that tell me how ugly I look in

Photo By Abel Reyes Karla Antunec holds the phone she used to find happiness

Antunec feels that she finally found a religion that she can connect with and no matter the fate of her relationship with Elmodeen, she will always be Muslim.

“Nabil’s sister let me know that even if the relationship doesn’t work out, being with NabilI has taught me so much. I found Allah and I traveled to places I have never been before, and I agree with her,” Antunec said.

LIFESTYLE

May 30, 2019

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A story conveyed without any words Student choreographed dance hits the stage

Story By Sabriyya Ghanizada Viking Staff Long Beach City College Spring Dance Ensemble featured student dancers and two student choreographers debuting their emotional work at the Furjanak Sandberg Auditorium in Long Beach this past weekend.

The opening number Tuvanian Rap Dance, exhibited great spatial awareness from dancers as they weaved in and out of lines creating constant movement throughout the upbeat dance.

Dressed in bright yellow dresses and white leggings, the dancers lassoed and whipped their way to the unique music which resembled a Turkish country sound.

The piece, choreographed by faculty staff Arlene Bracket, included quirky movement as unique as the music.

After opening with an upbeat number, student choreographers each took the audience somewhere personal.

Resonant Light, choreographed by dance major Levi Christiansen, began with five dancers in a circle, laying outwards in child’s pose.

“My piece is about being seen and allowing yourself to be seen. Trusting other people and trusting yourself to be vulnerable. I think it’s very easy to stay in the dark and I think a lot of people do,” Christiansen said.

The dancers remained in the circle for the entirety of the dance, reacting to the light on their skin, unsure of what to about it at first.

When they did attempt to leave the circle, they would recoil back from the darkness that surrounded the spotlight.

Perhaps the most striking costumes of the night, student choreographer Joshua Snels piece, featured his own music with a written monologue at the beginning.

“When I first made this piece, I added a monologue so people could understand what it was about, I needed the audience to understand that it was about them,” Snels said.

After moving through the monologue, Snels stood on top of a rock and like a puppet master, manipulated his two groups of dancers.

The first, dressed neck to foot in white a blue with flowy wings and the second, in feather vests and animal skin kilts.

The crux of the piece involved both groups battling one another, with some stage fighting but mainly hard hitting and thrash movements.

For most of the faculty numbers, the emphasis was on character and partner work.

The 1950’s styled piece “You & Me”

Photo By Sabriyya Ghanizada Tyree Kelly, Mona Chan and Michael Miller are all smiles during Erin Landry’s 1950’s styled period piece, You & Me, which was backed by a big band performance, was performed at the Spring Dance Ensemble on Saturday night.

Photo by Sabriyya Ghanizada LBCC dancer Kristy Williams during the curtain call following the Spring Dance Ensemble.

choreographed by Erin Landry, was backed by a big band number and the dancer’s lively performance did not disappoint.

“Fortuitous Possibility” by dance faculty member, Sarah Cashmore, told the

story of lovers constantly crossing paths until they joined hands in the end and were left alone on the stage as the rest of the dancers exited.

The standout performance of the night was ballerina Carmella Casabella

who performed a beautiful en pointe solo titled Extending From Trees, that broke away from the norms of typical ballet.

Choreographed by artistic director, Martha Paminutan, the ballerina weaved effortlessly through her pirouettes into pictures with flexed feet and broken wrists.

“Having doubt from last semester and then moving into this semester helped me become more me. By honoring my body and giving myself the freedom to explore how I wish helped me reclaim my space.

When I’m out and about, I break social norms, I do things different. If I feel tension in the room, I break out of it. Personally, I’ve gotten more confident as a person I think it’s really validating to know that you are human and no matter what create, it’s good” said Christiansen when describing his experience leading up to the show.

“The beauty of dance and the art form is to be inspired. It’s not about age or size or gender or sexual whatever, you can all do it and that’s what we want to do is inspire people get up and try. Everyone can do it you just have to try,” said artistic director Martha Paminutan.

The dance department holds two ensembles each year, one in the Fall and the other in the Spring.

Fall ensemble dancer auditions are Thursday, August 29 at 6:00 p.m. at LAC113.

OPINION

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BOARD EDITORIAL

LBCC needs an LGBTQ safe space

As the only LGBTQ club at LBCC comes to an end, LBCC should take advantage of this opportunity to create a permanent center for the LGBTQ community on both LAC and PCC, to better promote workshops, like SafeZone which would help create a more inclusive campus.

Queer Space was the only student organized club that was dedicated to providing sanctuary for LGBTQ students, however, the club has not met all semester, has no current president and has lost its charter for a lack of representation at the LBCC club senate meetings.

Unfortunately that means that without Queer Space at LBCC, the LGBTQ community has no real place to go on campus for LGBTQ resources, guidance, or even just the simplicity of a safe place.

It is true that society has become more inclusive toward the LGBTQ community, in large part due to the people who had to overcome hardships not too long ago, but recent events have shown us that this country still has a long way to go.

There is still resistance to pro-LGBTQ legislation on both the national and state levels, countless instances of discrimina-

tion against the trans community, and June 12 will mark only the third anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, an attack that took the lives of 49 LGBTQ partygoers, and wounding 53 others.

Keeping those examples in mind, it becomes apparent that there is still a need for a LGBTQ space at LBCC, and in addition to that, the school should not depend on student organized clubs to fill that need.

LBCC should provide that space for LGBTQ students itself.

The school is off to a good start, with the implementation of a new educational program called SafeZone, that helps promote a more inclusive campus through a series of workshops that teach concepts like the difference between sexual orientations gender identity, gender expression, and terminology.

SafeZone is a great program that can help the school continue being an inclusive campus, however the program would be even more effective if it was offered more often, like once a month.

Even then, workshops that take place once a month aren’t going to help a student that may need help on any of the other 29

days of that month.

Now that Queer Space has ended, LBCC should dedicate funding to build facilities that are modeled after the LGBTQ Center in Long Beach or even so, collaborate with them for more effective support.

The center could provide services such as resources to find LGBTQ events around Long Beach, a library with LGBTQ reading materials, and onsite certified counseling.

It would be a permanent space at LBCC that would be available as a place of guidance, knowledge and safety for any student in the LGBTQ community, and even better, it wouldn’t be limited to the short span of time for a club like Queer Space that would have to meet each week, or a sampling of inclusivity workshops that meet even less than that.

In order for LBCC to ensure inclusivity and safety for all its students, there has to be ensured inclusivity for its LGBTQ students.

The best thing that the school can do to achieve that, would be to allocate funding for LGBTQ resource facilities on both campuses, and continue to provide workshops like SafeZone.

OPINION

Mental health, lets talk about it

Story by Marissa Lopez Viking Staff

Despite increased awareness, mental health remains a serious subject that impacts college students, which is why LBCC should promote their mental health resources more frequently instead of the times it is most convenient to help decrease the stigma for its students.

Although there is now a clearer understanding about the struggles that mental health can add to students lives there are still college students that struggle to come to terms with their own suffering mental health.

According to a study done by the National Alliance on Mental Health, 50 percent of college students struggle with anxiety resulting in negative affects to their school work.

The Mental Health Foundation believes that once someone becomes open about their mental illness they may lose their sense of identity and are subject to stereotypes.

When people become more open about their mental health battles, issues may begin to arise, such as difficulty in finding a job or attending school because their mental illness may negatively affect their day to day life.

Some may be told to “get over it”, ultimately meaning that in the eyes of others, their mental illness is not being taken as seriously as it should be.

As a result, individuals may feel ashamed and embarrassed for being vulnerable.

This shame can cause those same people to bottle up their feelings and hide their emotions which may continue a cycle that negatively impacts their mental health.

Adjunct counselor through the Student Support Service Daisy Cook, explains that mental health is something that needs to be talked about more and that as a society we should be more open to having those conversations.

Instead of promoting resources based on convenience, LBCC should advocate for a stronger emphasis by regularly promoting the resources offered by Mental Health Services.

It would be beneficial to students if LBCC organized a weekly group meeting or workshop where students can go to talk to others about their experiences and feelings.

The day following the PCC false shooter alarm, a healing circle was created for students to attend and speak about their emotions toward the false alarm.

Despite a small attendance of under 10 people, those who were there had much to

say about how they felt.

Some students may not be comfortable with discussing their issues publicly but there are many ways that they can work towards improving their mental on their own terms.

For the students who might have a lot going on in their lives, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America suggests some simple steps for improving mental health including keeping a journal to write down your feelings in and dedicating a few hours a day to be away from your phone.

Anxiety can be a major component of depression so the AADA also suggests doing something as minor as practicing breathing techniques.

Surrounding yourself with understanding people that you trust can play a major role in how you feel.

Individuals surrounded by negativity may have a different outlook than those who are surrounded by people who care for their well being.

It is important to take time for yourself and work towards being able to identify your feelings and emotions.

Being able to talk about their mental health is not something any student should be ashamed of; when mental health becomes a part of the normal conversation on our campus the stigma around it will begin disappear.

May 30, 2019

VIKING NEWS Editor-in-chief: Steven Matthews Managing editor: Abel Reyes Copy editor: Sabriyya Ghanizada News editors: Andrea Ramos Cassandra Reichelt Opinion editors: Fernando Pacheco Iman Palm Lifestyle editors: Dylan Keith Shani Crooks Sports editors: Malik Reeves Johana Trujillo

Staff Jennifer Vidal Hannah Buckley Melanie Gerner Ryan Cholico Nehemiah Balaoro Aspyn Sewell Sebastian Angulo

Brandon Silva Alexis Turner Abrielle Lopez Marissa Lopez Arlene Guerrero Jorge Hernandez Takota Haas

Adviser: Walter Hammerwold Photo and online adviser: Chris Viola The deadline for news, advertisements and letters to the editor is the Thursday before publication.

The Viking is published by Journalism 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 87 and 88 students of the LBCC English Department, with funding from the Associated Student Body.

The Viking newsroom is located at LBCC, LAC 4901 E. Carson St., Long Beach, Calif., 90808, Room P135, mail code Y-16, Telephone (562) 938-4285 or contact the staff by email to vikingnews@lbcc.edu or on social media.

The views expressed in the Viking do not reflect the views of the advisers, administration or the ASB. First copy free, each additional $1.

Have an opinion?

The Viking welcomes letters to the editor.

Writers must identify themselves by showing their ASB card, driver’s license or ID card and email. Only names and major will be published with the letter.

May 30, 2019

OPINION

7

A lack of resources for student parents as before her medical leave began.’

Our campus has a three-person team in place for handling Title IX policies and procedures.

Dr. Alisia Kirkwood, who is new to the coordinator position also conducts investigations when necessary.

If an expecting or parenting student does not know that they may be able to receive accommodations, they could remain unaware that their circumstance may be protected through Title IX. There is a need for a clear policy to be put in place not only to protect the parenting students but to create a culture of fairness and inclusivity on campus that all professors and instructors can abide by.

Story By Sabriyya Ghanizada Viking Staff They say it takes a village to raise a child yet, Long Beach City College has large gaps to fill in places where the institution is not providing entirely for the parenting student population on campus.

Despite the need for services like the Child Development Center and a mother’s room, LBCC does not collect data on parenting students, which may leave the administration, faculty and staff unaware of the growing number.

To date, many Southern California campuses are taking on a two-generation, or 2Gen, approach to supporting student parents.

Amber Angel, program coordinator for the family resource center at Los Angeles Valley College, understood the need for 2Gen programs when her water broke during her 8 a.m. math class.

“Student data collection is important. If you don’t have the data, I suggest the Institute of Women’s Policy Research, or IWPR. How we initially first got data was through financial aid. FAFSA does ask the students if they have dependents. It is important to know that it is not complete, because there are dreamers, those who don’t qualify and other factors,” Angel said.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research current fact sheet shows that 22 percent of all undergraduates are parenting students, which means a little more than one in five students on any given college campus may have dependents.

Anthropology and Environmental Studies major Lara Mienjtes, who is also a parenting student at LBCC, conducted her own personal survey of students in roughly 40 classes during the 2018 spring semester.

Mienjtes’ research concluded about 18 percent of students on our campus may have dependents during a semester.

Following a 2Gen approach, if LBCC provided a place on campus for students and their children to both study, this may alleviate pressure from the parenting student while also instilling a sense of belonging in the child by stepping foot on a college campus regularly.

PART II: The hard way or the milky way

On both LBCC campuses, the student health rooms have what LBCC nurse Leticia Covarrubias calls an “everything room.”

“The Mother’s room is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m and Fridays 8 a.m. to 12 p.m,” Covarrubias said.

LBCC has until Jan. 1, 2020 to be in compliance with state law AB 2785 by having a lactation room that is open during any time that a lactating student may need the room.

Our campus currently holds evening classes until 9:50 p.m. and Saturday classes until 2:00 p.m.

If a lactating student who can’t make it

PART IV: So, what’s it all got to do with LBCC?

to the room 10 minutes before they close and has a need, the likely option would be the nearest restroom.

“We are definitely still doing investigations and research and trying to be creative in resolving this for the students who might have some night classes on campus, but we don’t have anything finalized yet so, so I can’t share anything,” Director of Student Health and Student Life Deborah Miller-Calvert said.

The current mother’s room on both campuses have yet to be identified on campus maps, posted signage or even the website.

LAVC’s family resource room currently has a private breastfeeding room on campus where a ‘do not disturb’ sign goes up and the door can be locked. “They can contact us anytime. We are not open weekends but there are some night time students who may have the need, so if they let us know ahead of time, we will let the campus sher-

iff know about the need through email or a phone call,” Associate Vice President in the administrative service department at LAVC Sarah Song.

Part III: Piecing it together

Title IX, a 1972 bill, prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities.

All public and private educational institutions that receive federal financial assistance must comply with Title IX as it protects students, including prohibiting discrimination against pregnant and parenting students.

Under Title IX, educational institutions ‘must excuse a student’s absences because of pregnancy or childbirth for as long as the student’s doctor deems the absences medically necessary. When a student returns to school, she must be allowed to return to the same academic and extracurricular status

On Flex day, a designated day for professional development of faculty, Superintendent-President Reagan Romali announced the establishment of a task force on racial equity and inclusion.

During a discussion about a motion proposed by trustee president Sunny Zia regarding making requests to the superintendent-president, student success was also on Romali’s mind during the April 24 board of trustees meeting.

“My job is to raise graduation rates, raise transfer rates, get people jobs, get people retained,” Romali said.

On lbcc.com, the resources page does not have a section for parenting students to find resources they may need on campus like the mother’s room, CARE program or more information on Title IX advocacy.

Currently, there is no designated place on campus for parenting students to meet or a club or program on campus for representation.

Students with dependents are also the most vulnerable when it comes to being in debt and have nearly twice the debt than students without children according to the institutes website.

There may not be a clear solution when it comes to the parenting student population but the need to create community, resources and a plan of action to support student parents is apparent.

In order to fill these gaps and catch up to surrounding community colleges and the nation, LBCC must start collecting data on the student parent population as well as conduct surveys to understand their needs.

But it does not stop there; student parents will need to speak up about their needs and begin advocating for themselves, they can do this by attending board of trustee or ASB meetings, starting clubs on campus and communicating with their counselors about their needs.

Most of all, there will need to be a shift in the culture of how the LBCC community chooses to connect and communicate with one another on campus.

SPORTS

8

May 30, 2019

Spring sports wrapup

Men’s volleyball takes another victory Stories by Johana Trujillo, Malik Reeves and Arlene Guerrero Viking Staff The Vikings men’s volleyball team ended their season with yet another victory after being crowned the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) state champions for the 10th time.

Other sports ended their season successfully with track and field placing fifth overall in regional finals, beach volleyball placing second at CCCAA state champions and swim qualifying two athletes to compete at CCCAA state champions as well.

Men’s baseball competed at CCCAA super regionals but ended their journey early after losing their first two games.

Men’s volleyball

spotlight.”

Head coach Casey Crook entered his 26 season and in the end was proud of the team outcome.

“This team definitely built their personnel with each other and worked extremely good as a team,” Crook said.

After making it to the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA), the Vikings won their first game against Ventura College with a score of 3-1, but lost the second game with a score of 5-0 at Ventura.

Making it to CCCAA super regionals at Orange Coast, the team lost both games which put a final end to the Vikings baseball team.

Track and Field

Resilient is what head coach of men’s volleyball, Jonathan Charette, described his team as after being crowned the 2019 California Community College Athletic Association state champions for the 10th time.

Long Beach City College men’s volleyball team took another win this year after defeating Irvine Valley College Lasers at Fullerton College on April 27.

The Vikings were able to push through the entire game to defeat the Irvine Lasers, ending the game in a 3-0 sweep.

This is the third time the team has won CCCAA state champions since Charette started coaching, which to him is another big moment in his coaching career at LBCC. “I’m definitely proud of this moment, I’m proud that us as a coaching staff are able to offer this experience up to these guys,” Charette said.

Charette also mentioned that as a team they struggled with many challenges but were able to overcome them.

“Reflecting back at the very beginning of the fall semester, when we started training with this group, I think this had been a group of guys who have done a really good job at growing, working on changes and getting better every day, and I think it showed at the end of the season,” Charette said.

Throughout the season the team set a streak of 14 wins, three losses and finished their championship season with a 19-3 record.

The men’s and women’s track and field had a successful season this year with the women’s placing fifth overall at the California Community College Athletic Association Southern Regional finals, earning them a spot in the state championships.

Men’s and women’s track and field has now had players qualify for the state championships two seasons in a row.

On the women’s team, Aazalet Danage had two first place finishes in the 200-meter finals, with a time of 25.13 seconds and in the 400 meter finals, with a time of 60.77 seconds in the Coast Classic track event at Orange Coast College.

At this year’s state championship, Danage competed in the women’s 400 dash and placed ninth, sophomore Destiny Diaz competed in the 3000-meter steeplechase and placed 12, freshman Callissa Canadlot competed in the javelin throw and placed fourth, and sophomore Lyling Irwin competed in pole vault and placed 11.

Sophomore James Martin competed in the men’s triple jump, finishing 10th place as the only male athlete who qualified state for the Vikings.

“I think overall we had a pretty good season, my team had some good tough practices, worked hard everyday and worked even harder at the meets and we were fortunate enough to compete for state and came up short, but my team never quit on me this season,” head coach of women’s track and field Karen Vigilant said.

Men’s baseball

Women’s beach volleyball

Long Beach City College baseball team showed progress throughout the 2018-2019 season having an overall record of 28-17 and earning a spot in the playoffs.

Despite the team having a few players with minor injuries they made it through the season while having minor setbacks.

“We all felt committed to get the win,” freshman pitcher and infielder Noel Soto said. “We were all hungry for that playoff

Women’s beach volleyball team competed in the California Community College Athletic Association team state championships (CCCAA) on May 9-11.

Their first match was against Irvine Valley College, in which they defeated 4-1.

Advancing to the next round, the Vikings played against Sierra College and won them 4-1, advancing them to the final championship match.

File photo Viking’s men’s volleyball team takes another win at the CCCAA State Championship this season after defeating Irvine Valley College Lasers.

In the final match the Vikings fell short of the championship title placing them in second place against Grossmont College.

Men’s and women’s swim

Long Beach City College swim team qualified two athletes to compete at the California Community College Athletic Asso-

ciation (CCCAA) state championship this year.

On the women’s team, freshman Victoria Rowe, competed in the 200-yard butterfly and won first place.

In the men’s team, freshman Michael Baker competed in the 200-yard backstroke and placed third.